David Inoue
We are just over three weeks into the second Trump administration, and many seem overwhelmed by the flood of executive actions and orders that have come forth from the White House. Nearly 100 executive actions are posted on the White House website as of the end of the third full week, and tens of thousands of federal workers have been pushed out under the threat of being fired eventually without the voluntary resignation benefits offered via cryptic emails.
It certainly seems that the government is falling apart from within, and Congress is standing idly by, whether it is Republicans expressing their fealty to their party leader or impotent Democrats who are too fearful that they will lose more support by taking a possibly unpopular position. The only thing that has saved us from descending into total chaos are numerous court challenges that have overwhelmingly been found against the administration’s actions. The other side of this is that for a president who has long demonstrated his disdain for the rule of law, we are reliant upon him and his administration actually following the court’s rulings.
And yet, our government remains open, and functional, at least until the looming deadline for Congress to pass appropriations for the current year on March 14. Failure to pass the spending package would actually shut down the government in a way the president cannot because it truly is Congress that funds the government’s operations, not the president.
Probably, you are not feeling any better about the situation than when I started this column. You are still faced with an administration that is acting outside traditional norms and even outside the boundaries of legality. Congress may actually accomplish weakening the federal government more effectively than the president if it fails to pass its spending bills, and outside that, they seem to be doing little to stop what the president has attempted.
But what is also true is that much of this will take time.
The courts will be involved, and as the president well knows, the courts can be used to draw things out until the clock runs out at the next election, whether it is midterms for Congress or the next presidential election.
Ultimately, despite the radical skewing of the courts, I do believe many of the things that the president is doing will be too far even for these justices to stomach. While the attacks on birthright citizenship have garnered significant headlines, there is a close to zero chance that the court will overturn that right or even erode it in the way the president seeks.
As this process draws out and we take a moment to breathe, individuals can make a difference.
Regardless of whether you have a Democratic or Republican representative or senator, call their office to let them know you are angry about what is happening. Ask them if the purging of government employees will mean your tax return will be delayed. Will you get your Social Security check on time next month? Or does Elon Musk now know how much your Social Security check is? During the Superbowl, there were multiple public service announcements about cancer, so you can ask if the freezes on federal grants are cutting off funds to medical research. Have they seen how much the cost of eggs has gone up in the past two weeks?
Right now, Congress needs to hear that the administration’s actions are not just creating fear in their political enemies, but in all Americans around these fundamental issues and concerns.
This is an administration built on and with expertise in creating fear in what they might consider their enemies: Immigrants, minorities and LGBTQ+ people. Congress needs to hear that the fear is going deeper than the so-called identity issues, that these are the concerns of all Americans. We need Democrats to take a more forceful opposition and for Republicans to realize that they need to conduct some rudimentary oversight that Congress is expected of in the Constitution. The Senate is supposed to advise and consent, not just consent to administrative appointments.
It’s only been three weeks since this administration came in, but as every member of Congress knows, it’s less than two years until the next election. Make sure that they know that you know this as well, and that even if they might not agree with you on many things, they should agree that they need to be doing better at their own job as a member of Congress and looking out for the concerns of their constituents.
David Inoue is executive director of the JACL. He is based in the organization’s Washington, D.C., office. Click here to read past columns.
